Focal Length

Canon has just announced two new Rebel DSLRs, the EOS Rebel T5i and the EOS Rebel SL1, both of which are poised to be compact DSLRs that will deliver impressive imaging performance. Additionally, a new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens has been announced.

Samsung has announced a new mirrorless digital camera for their NX mount and has bundled it with a versatile zoom lens, an external flash unit and Adobe software. The Samsung NX1100 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 20-50mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens is a compact mirrorless camera that features a 20.3MP APS-C-sized CMOS sensor for high-resolution, detailed imagery with notable low-light sensitivity to ISO 12800.

Sony has announced two new Alpha E-mount lenses for their NEX series of digital mirrorless cameras. The first is the Alpha E-mount 20mm f/2.8 prime lens which makes it, along with the 16mm f/2.8 lens, their second wide-angle prime lens for the NEX system. The other lens introduced today is the Alpha E-mount 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 PZ OSS Lens.

Larry Becker reviews the new Nikon 1 J2 mirrorless digital camera in this video from B&H. Becker demonstrates a few of the J2’s new features and highlights some of the notable upgrades from the camera’s predecessor, the Nikon 1 J1.

The number of fast, wide aperture prime optics we carry at B&H has grown over the past year, and in a market that has become increasingly populated by slower, variable-aperture zooms, this is encouraging news.

Olympus has just announced a new addition to the Micro Four Thirds system, the M.ZUIKO Digital 17mm f/1.8 lens. This lens offers a 35mm equivalent focal length of 34mm, giving it a slighter wider-than-normal angle of view that is ideal for general everyday use.

Tamron has recently introduced a pair of new lenses, both of which are telephoto length and offer wide maximum apertures, Vibration Compensation (VC) and an Ultrasonic Silent Drive (USD) focusing motor. These lenses are improvements over past versions due to the incorporation of new technologies that enable sharper, cleaner imagery.

Sigma has announced a new 35mm f/1.4 prime lens for DSLR cameras. A wide-angle lens with a fast maximum aperture, it’s available for Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Sony and Sigma Autofocus mounts. With this lens, Sigma is inaugurating a new line of interchangeable lenses: the Art line.

I was reading a forum post by someone, who said, "I prefer prime lenses, and would rather zoom with my feet." I also read a blog post by someone that was comparing lenses of two different focal lengths, and they said, "If I want a wider angle, I'll just back up." Now, of course we've heard these references to "zooming with our feet" for years, but does it really work? We'll explore that in today's blog post.

The human eye, with support from the brain (the fastest CPU on the planet), visually reconstructs our surroundings in real-time as we go about our days and nights. Describing the human eye and how it interprets the world around us in terms of camera optics is a tricky process to explain, and that's before we even get to the 'how does it compare to my camera' part of the story.